The Swarrell Life

I just came back to work after almost a week off. Now I have the holiday blues. I guess you could also call it the holiday blahs. That's how I feel after most vacations: blah. We had a great time this last weekend with my sister-in-law's family in McCall, Idaho. There was between 30-40 people for the weekend; we all stayed at a church camp facility, which means there was plenty of room for everyone. We all had our own rooms, mostly, and even though Autumn and I were not directly related, we were made to feel right at home. What a relaxing time! After being there from Wednesday to Sunday, we drove the slick and nasty roads to Boise and stayed with my dad for a night. It was great because we were able to drop Trinity off and go to dinner by ourselves. It was great for all involved. But now I am home, which is nice except for the blahs. On that note, Autumn's BFF Beth sent out this picture of her boys the other day. I'll just let you enjoy the picture without further descr...

I am a lucky guy, my wife lets me sleep for about 6 hours! Considering how much sleep she is getting, I think that is pretty generous. I take the late shift, feeding at about 8pm and 11pm or so. Momma gets the rest of the night. I guess that's okay, since I am back at work now. We'll have to work it out again when Autumn goes back to work, which is approaching very fast. I'll miss seeing this at lunch: That girl sure is growing like crazy. I wish that we had an appointment soon, so we could see how much weight she gained. At the last appointment she had gained about 21 ounces in 12 days. I think she's getting enough to eat! I have said all along that she eats and sleeps like me! We are off to McCall, Idaho for Christmas. It should be a lot of fun, since we'll be spending it with my sister-in-law's family, which numbers about 40-50 for the weekend. We are staying at a church camp facility, which is kind of weird for a family event, but the setting couldn't be...

I told this was coming! We have more video for all you Trinity fans out there! There is nothing really special about this video, except that she is pretty darn cute in general! I have a few more pictures in a new album, it is linked at the top of the right hand column. I know that the blog posts are not too frequent, I will try and be better about that. It helps me too because I get caught up in my day and forget that I need to be enjoying every little moment with my daughter. She will be gone before I know it, so I better pay attention. For those of you wondering, I received an A and an A- in my classes this quarter. I think that's pretty good. I'm not bragging or anything, I'm just sayin'...

You just have to love all the firsts when you have a child. First breathe, first cry, first smile, first poopy diaper...the list goes on and on. Well, we're the same here as most other places, we like to document the heck out of it and post it on the web. Poor kid, she doesn't stand a chance. My mom was here for the week, it was really great to have her here. Not only did she help out around here, but she was able to get in some good grandma time too! She was able to give Trinity her first bath, which we captured on video: Also, she rolled over for the first time! Maybe it was a fluke, but man this kid is on the move! I already can't keep up with her! Here is the video for the rollover:

We bottle fed for the first time tonight! It was very easy, Trinity took to it like a fish to water. She is a pretty serious over-achiever. But really it is good because I can take now the late evening feeding so that Autumn can get more than two hours' sleep in a row. It was a little bit empowering to be able to satisfy the baby in this way. Before I could only look helplessly on as Autumn took care of it. Now I can do it to! So here she is in all her diapered glory! She lost her umbilical cord a couple of days ago, so we have been meaning to document this momentous occasion. What better time than when her belly is full to bursting? Check that tummy out! It is a little exagerated by the angle of the camera, but all for good effect! What a cutie! Finally, tonight I bring you a picture of what babies and mommies all have in common: they want to sleep!

This video is ridiculously funny! Thanks to the Daily Dish for this one!

I guess it has been almost a week since I last posted. This is just a quick one to let both my readers know that I am still alive. Autumn and I just had our first meal alone in a couple of weeks, it was a very nice lunch together while my mom watched Trinity. I am only now starting to realize how much I enjoy time with my wife, since we have so little of it together. My mom is down for the week to help us out and to get some good grandma time in, so Autumn has a little freedom, which is nice for her. We'll have to figure out how to get more of that for her in the coming weeks. I miss my wife and I miss my daughter now that I am back at work. My time home was really good. Parenthood makes time go faster. Yikes! Here is a picture of our little baby girl during some tummy time...good stuff! Also, I included a picture with Auntie Beth, since I heard that she was feeling left out. Cheers!

Really the title of this post doesn't mean anything at all. I am just trying to be clever at 10:00pm. It's not working for me either. But maybe it will make you wonder what the heck I put in my coffee this late at night. So many people I know can't drink coffee past noon or they will be up all night. Not me. I can drink a pot of the stuff and still sack out in about 30 seconds flat. But I imagine that my time is coming. Oh the horror. My dad and stepmom stopped by on their way through to Seattle this morning. They needed their grandbaby fix. It was really nice to see them, I am thrilled and touched by the enthusiasm of my parents towards the birth of our daughter. It is the first grandchild, so I can see why it is such a big deal for them. At 34 years old, I am the youngest and I just got around to procreating. I wonder if they had written the whole thing off. Nevertheless, here we are and my daughter has three of the best sets of grandparents that a child could ask for. Pe...

Here we are again at about 10:30 and I am still looking to gain some momentum while doing my homework. My wife and daughter are asleep. The dog is asleep. Why am I not asleep? Well, I have to finish my homework. I don't care if it is good at this point, I just want to finish it. Whether I get a B or and A is irrelevant at this point. They both get me through to the next round. Speaking of the next round, I posted more pics of our daughter today, just a few. Here is my favorite:

At what point do I get to stop worrying if my daughter is still breathing? Here I am at 10:30 at night, which feels like 2am, doing homework (and blogging) and I stop every few minutes to make sure Trinity is still breathing. She is a swaddled up and comfortable in her chair. Autumn is asleep for just over another half an hour, when I will wake her up for the late-evening feeding. I am trying to gain some intellectual momentum, but I keep stopping to see if my daughter is still alive. Is this normal? At what point can I stop worrying that she has ceased breathing? Will I ever relax as a parent? Should I? I guess I am more of a worrier than I like to let on. The irony is that I can sleep right through her active sleeping, which involves murmurs and a little fussing. I hear this is a gift that many men have. Women don't have it. I guess that's for the best, since someone should wake when the baby cries. In the mean time I am sitting here guzzling coffee in an effort to stay awake...

This is about 12 hours after Trinity was born. Beth brought her two boys, Spencer and Payton with her. They are usually rambunctious like any boys would be, but they were super well-behaved on this occasion. Although Payton was unusually interested in my lunch until I told him it was scalloped potatoes and not mashed. He wasn't sure about that, so he lost interest. BUT, as Spencer took his turn holding the baby, Payton started rocking the chair and singing. Need I say more? Check the video out. You might have to turn the volume up to hear it. Oh yeah, this is a video of Trinity in the heated bed right after she was born:

Talk about a holiday rush I sure do miss the city...uh...no.

Yesterday was momentous: not turkey, exercise! We went for our first walk, all the way to the end of the block. The problem is that it was cold and the wind was making Trinity upset. I don't blame her, it was cold! The funny thing about this picture is that you can't even see her in the stroller! She is still so small and so precious. I can see her growing so much, even after only six days. I hear that it only gets faster. I am continually amazed at how well Autumn is handling this new chapter in life. She has been a nursing machine! She is still recovering from labor, but has been so consistent. Thanksgiving was good, but to be honest I am a little distracted. Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful for many things, but the holiday slipped by me this year even though I spent it with family. Why so distracted? This picture says it all:

For all of you wanting pictures, here are some more of my favorites. It is interesting watching the changes in Trinity as she grows day by day. Her eating and sleeping is changing as Autumn's milk comes in. The kid can eat. People say she looks a little like Autumn. That may be true, but she eats and sleeps like me. Good for you, Trinity. Good for you. These are black and whites that I took while we were giving her a little time in the sun. The contrast is irresistable to the photographer in me. I think they are very dramatic and really capture how I feel about her. My feelings are very plain as I look at her. I love her, no more and no less.

So many people have told me how having a child will change everything and how you can never really express it in words. It's true, it's true! I think that the delirium of not sleeping much can cause a sudden loss of vocabulary, but even if that is the case, there simply is no way to describe how I feel right now. All the political stuff goes away. I only care about my family right now. I have a couple new shots that connect in my mind to the feelings that I have. They are of my wife and daughter during feeding times. That is the connection. That is what parenting is all about. I am so proud and happy that my wife has that connection with Trinity. I wish I had that connection. But I have others and those blow my mind too. I was changing her diaper and had her all clean and fresh. She yells when I change her. I was about to put a clean shirt on her, when I bent down and kissed her belly, told her I loved her and laid my cheek on her belly. She quieted down when I touched her. It ...

Born To Aaron and Autumn Harrell on November 22, 2008, at 1:24am. She weighed in at 6lbs, 3oz and is 19 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful! Autumn is doing great, tired but healthy. I have a few pics here, but more are posted on my facebook profile . I'll post more and talk more later, this is just a taste of what's to come. My wife is truly amazing to have carried this baby for so long and then given birth to bring her into our lives. Amazing.

Here she comes! It is 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday, November 21st. This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it! I have sang that song since I was a kid, and I now know how true it can be. We are getting ready to head to the hospital to induce labor. This is the last day that our family will be only two, okay maybe tomorrow too. But nevertheless, our house and home will never be the same. I will never be the same. Autumn will never be the same. We will never be the same, and while I rejoice in the pending arrival of our daughter, I can't help but mourn the loss of our life up til now. We have a great life, and while the addition of a child will make it even better, there are so many things that I know I am going to miss. I am going to miss the tranquility of our life as man and wife. I am going to miss the freedom to come and go as I choose. I am going to miss the flexibility that comes with being able to eat or go whenever I want to. But I look forwa...

1. I have a great husband. He always says such nice things. I think one reason this pregnancy has been such a positive experience is because of his supportive and caring attitude. When the pregnancy hormones were doing their thing he was always there to cheer me up. When I was feeling fat, he'd tell me how good I looked. When I was feeling too small, he'd tell me how big I looked--which (believe it or not!) was exactly what I needed to hear. 2. Retirement is going to be fun. Though Friday was my last 'official' day at work I did go in Monday and saw more patients than I expected; so many in fact that I didn't get some of the paperwork done in the office that I wanted to so I ended up working a half day yesterday to get that done. So, today was my first full day off work. Though I don't think I'd be ready to retire at 34, I can see how retirement is going to be enjoyable. At the gym this morning there were two retired women working out downstairs a...

Take a minute and vote on the birth weight of our daughter (on the right side of the blog...) A few observations: - My wife is pretty brave. Any woman who has given birth is brave. That has to be one of the more traumatic events a human can go through and still live. Good thing it produces such wonderful results. I suppose that's why people go through it more than once. Ouch. - A natural consequence of the above statement is to remind you of how the world would look if men had to carry the unborn fetus and give birth. It would be empty. God knew what he was doing when he gave that assignment to women. - Parents are great, especially when their children are becoming parents themselves. Okay, I am just speaking for myself. My parents are great, I am so lucky to have them involved in the process. - We just bought a video camera, but don't hold your breath for a live feed of the birth. Just because we can, doesn't mean we will. How's that for restraint? But after the birth,...

Well, today is the due date. Things started off on a good note this morning as I started having mild contractions at 1:30 a.m. however by 6 a.m. or so they had pretty much resolved. Darn it. Tomorrow I have another doctors appointment and we'll probably have my membranes stripped--I don't know exactly what that is but it doesn't sound like much fun. It may help induce labor though and I think I'm finally to the point where that is a good thing. I still feel okay physically but it just feels like our lives are on hold right now waiting for Happy Feet to make her appearance. I try not to wish any of my days away quicker than they already go since we only have so many days in our life but right now I'm finding that a little hard.

But funny! If you have not read it already, the Borowitz Report is pretty funny satire in a manner not unlike The Onion . Enjoy the full article here . Otherwise: "According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language. "Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."" Excuse the double quotation. Is that even legal?

For those of you wanting the update, here's the latest photos! Boy she's looking good! The baby appears to have dropped a little and the due date is coming fast! For those of you who haven't voted on when she's coming, vote in the previous post!

For those of you following my wife's pregnancy, we are still waiting for the little bugger to make her appearance. There are several pools going around town in regards to when she'll actually be here. I decided that maybe I'd do a poll of both my readers to see what they thought. Here is one for a due date, I'll post one for time of day, weight, and length later on. Enjoy! When will our daughter be born? ( surveys )

The Obama administration is going to have to earn my trust. I have placed my trust, and my future to some extent, in the hands of another politician and his advisers. I hope that he will act in the manner that he has promised. I am not worried about past associations, if they are in the past. I am not worried about my guns. If the government comes to collect them on January 1, then I was wrong. Very wrong. But I am hopeful that we can see a more whole nation, even though this election has divided us more than ever. I am hopeful that we can have dialog instead of shouting matches. I had one just the other day with my dad. It was the first time we've talked about politics. He's talked about them, but it never came across as a discussion so much as pontification. But we discussed and it was good. I hope for more of this. With that in mind, check this out:

So here we are just a week or so away from the birth of our daughter. The little gadget on the right says so. But less than 5% of babies are born on their due dates. I have a feeling that my daughter is going to be an over-achiever. My wife is and I occasionally aspire to it as well. Hopefully we'll not instill that into her. I just hope that she knows that she is loved. By the way, she already has more stuff than me. Is it wrong to be jealous of your child? I dunno, I'm new at this whole parenting thing. Wait, I haven't even got that far yet. But I have a beautiful pregnant wife who is doing so great through this whole ordeal. Speaking of which, I need to get home for dinner...bye!

Rodney King provided some of the most talked-about rhetoric of the 1990's when he said: People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?...It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice....Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out. The pastor at my church talked about the election yesterday. He talked about our duty as Christians to submit to the governing authorities. I think he is absolutely correct, that our duty according to Romans 13 , is to submit to and respect and honor those appointed to govern over us. I am guilty of not doing that with many of our current leaders, on a local and national level. But I am commanded to do that. I only hope that I remember that ...

There has been much made of Sarah Palin's wardrobe lately. The GOP and McCain camps have started shelling her for the huge amount of money that was spent on their pick for Veep. They are capitalizing on the animosity towards Palin from the media at large and the left specifically. It's a reasonable strategy considering how badly the campaign was conducted and how disastrous the results were. Then there is the news that Palin may have been distancing herself from McCain in order to set up her own run in 2012 . Either way, they're hanging her out to dry. Pretty typical when something goes that wrong. I'll admit that I buy the hype. I usually do. But Sarah Palin was not at fault for the campaign going horribly wrong. The McCain camp picked her and was wrong to do so . I have a hard time believing that she didn't know that Africa is a continent . It remains to be seen if that is actually true. In the end, who cares? She's here now, so let's deal with it. To me ...

A few weeks ago we went over to a friends house to take some fall pictures with a few other families. It was a bit chilly but the colors were beautiful.

Well, after much resistance (primarily on my part) we are now online at home. I have been resistant because I didn't want to spend the extra money when we both have access to the internet elsewhere. In addition, I find that I can waste a whole lot of time on the net. Before making any major purchase I like to research the best options. That means I spend way too much time visiting web sites looking at prices, reviews, shipping times, shipping costs, etc. I also 'over-research' recipes for dinner. Instead of using the four or five excellent cookbooks we have in our pantry, I go online and look for that perfect recipe for dinner. I'll find one that sounds great but I can't stop there. I think, 'well, maybe there's something just a little more inspiring' so I keep looking. Before I know it, we're eating peanut butter and jelly because it's past our dinner time! On the bright side, I guess having the internet at home will now give me plen...

Politically speaking, I feel a little hung over. Maybe it is just the inevitable let down after having invested so much hope in this election cycle. It was bound to happen. But my candidate won, and I hope that I chose well. I can not imagine the alternative, so I have to believe that this is what is right. I see now that the election was the easy part. Now we have to do what we said needed to be done. Our hope can now turn into change. But now we must hold ourselves and our elected officials accountable for what they said. I am not so naive to think that everything President-Elect Obama said will come to pass. It doesn't work that way. But we can demand from him the kind of behavior and decision-making that we have come to expect from him. He is a fresh face and we need that every once in a while. Let's make sure that he is more than a face. Let's do our part too. Let's support him as our leader, in whatever way we can. If that means a protest, so be it. If that means ...

I'll be watching live at the local coffee shop, but in case you are reading this blog, here's a way to rack the results for this election, as they come in:

I'm not done with this election cycle. GET OUT AND VOTE!

I like to think of myself as an intelligent guy. I am college educated, intellectually curious, and somewhat open minded. I am also absent minded. I get caught up in the moment. I am one of the sheep that I often look down my nose at. I have bought into so much of the hype that this election cycle has elicited. Not just the issues, the hype. The media coverage of this outrage and that outrage. This is the first election I have really ever been emotionally invested in and I bought the whole enchilada. (I love enchiladas, especially when they have pork and that yummy green sauce!) I became outraged and angry at this and that. I replied to inaccurate e-mails. I was caught up in the whole thing and today I realized that it has exhausted me. I am tired of politics. Maybe I'll wait another 16 years to vote again. Probably not, but that's what I feel like. I guess it was over compensating for all the issues and candidates that I have ignored over the years. Maybe I tried too hard. But...

1) My wife is beautiful and I love this series of photos. 2) Barack Obama is not a socialist. The guy in this video is the actual Socialist Party Candidate for president. Obama a socialist? Um, no.

I received an e-mail this morning from a friend who is big GOP fan. I have included a portion of the original message below my response. I changed his name, in case this might bother him. I hope that I am wrong when I say that I think many people do not know when hyperbole is being employed, or even what it is: Dear Friend, The truth is somewhere in between conservative and liberal, maybe not even on the same plane of existence. I think that often we are asking the wrong question, making any answer at all irrelevant at best. The abortion issue is an example of an issue being over simplified to the point that it is about legality. I think that abortion is wrong. But do I think that making it illegal is going to solve the problem? There is a statistic that says that over half of global abortions happen in places where abortion is illegal. What does that say about the issue? That it is not the law that is going to make the difference. There are numerous studies that show that quality of l...

Only three weeks until the due date of our daughter. I have to say that I am a little nervous, mainly because so much is unknown. I know that it will be okay, but for now I'm a bit apprehensive. But Autumn is looking beautiful, as you can see above! I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet to have her as my wife.

I have voted for a president for exactly the second time in my life. I was raised in a largely right wing environment. I guess that's why voting for Ross Perot in 1992 was such a big deal. I was breaking with tradition, starting to think for myself. I became a bit disillusioned with the two-party system and decided to forgo voting for a while. Then I started regaining an interest in politics. The problem was that you can't speak to something that you are not participating in. So I registered, and here we are. I am not as timid about my views anymore. Thanks to my wife, I have learned to talk about issues in a more articulate way. Sometimes. Okay, maybe I still bludgeon people with them. I guess we all become our parents eventually. Either way, we should not have to vote out of fear. We should be voting FOR something, not simply AGAINST something. Jim Wallis in a blog entry on God's Politics articulates how fear is not what we should be subjected to or subjecting other peop...

Neither am I!

My take on abortion and gay marriage are very similar. Want to hear them? I'm glad you do. Read on; if you are a Christian, read it twice! The basic idea is that making something illegal is akin to winning an argument. You are not going to get someone to change how they feel by winning an argument. For instance: according to the Guttmacher Institute , "Legal restrictions on abortion do not affect its incidence. For example, the abortion rate is 29 in Africa, where abortion is illegal in many circumstances in most countries, and it is 28 in Europe, where abortion is generally permitted on broad grounds. The lowest rates in the world are in Western and Northern Europe, where abortion is accessible with few restrictions." So making something illegal doesn't change people's minds about abortion. It is a highly personal decision, whether you are for it or against it. I would say that marriage is a highly personal decision. If we extend the same logic of the abortion ar...

The time is FLYING by, less than month to go. Today we get to hear the baby's heart beat again. We now are going to weekly doctor's appointments. I know that both of us are a little nervous, simply because it could happen at any time and there is so much that is unknown. We have prepared the best we can, now we just hope that is enough. Should we have read one more book? Maybe, maybe not. No matter how much we read, we'll never be ready. But I am still going to read one more book. Maybe it will have that one thing that will make the reading worthwhile. Meanwhile, our daughter is as big as swiss chard? Weird.

Proposition 8 in California does not erode families and it does not belong in any kind of constitution. Visit: http://www.noonprop8.com/ Proposition 8 is hate.

That was great! One thing I can say is that I haven't seen a Prez/VP nominee with better rhythm than Ms. Palin!

I can not believe that our daughter could be here any day now! I feel a little distracted to say the least. We made a last trip to the big city (Boise, Idaho!) to fill out our list of supplies, so we should be good to go for now. I know that will change soon enough, but for now we just wait. Wow, she is pretty big now. She is approximately the size of a crenshaw melon. We saw a 6lb preemie at a restaurant during dinner that was TINY! To think that our baby is about that big now! Wow!

I watched a little of SNL this weekend, but missed this skit. This is AWESOME. Does she know what they are saying? I think she did SNL on a dare. Meanwhile, enjoy this hilarious rap by Amy Poehler!

Good advice, I would say. I missed posting yesterday on this, but October 15, 2008 was Global Handwashing Day. The official website has this to say: "The practice of handwashing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda this year with the first-ever Global Handwashing Day, slated for Wednesday 15 October 2008. With 2008 as the UN International Year of Sanitation, the Global Handwashing Day will echo and reinforce its call for improved hygiene practices." There you have it, Don't Eat Poop!

We are all rich and poor, each in our separate ways. People who don't have enough food to eat are poorer than me. People without a roof over their head are poorer than me. People without access to clean water are poorer than me. Poverty is not having less than someone else, it is not having enough of the things that a human being needs to survive. What can I do to help those living in poverty? No, seriously, tell me what to do.

Make for funny stuff on the internet! We're all to blame, not just the bankers. We want stuff and we usually want it now. Instead of saving and then buying, we buy and pay later. It was bound to catch up.

Our daughter is as big as a canteloupe! I have included a picture in case you do not know what that is. I also have a couple other pictures for you. There is a picture of Autumn so that you can see how big she is getting. That baby sure is growing! The big picture on top is ridiculous. That is why we took it. No, that is not a pillow, I was just seeing if my belly could get as big as Autumn's. I think that I can still give her a run for the money! Another month and there is no way, but for now I am still a contender for biggest belly in the house!